The Wilmingtonian., 1887-01-22
A IudfcfaI Mur der.

III tuc carly part Vi lue Seutlty
there lived In the Brnder Strasse, Berlin, a
merchant Lampert by name married to a
wife somewhat younger Than bimself-a
handsome woman, fond of dress and amuse,
ment. And by her ne had daughter, " hom
the vain mother did her best to spoil,
Every year Lampert went to the Lsipso
iair on business, and in the year 1880 he re-
solved, as usual, to attend the fair.
o. the evening before he was about to
start he called his wife into their common
b-dchamber, and asked her to assist him In
counting his money, VIII ch he kept In
strong iron double locked Golfer beneath his
bed
He always carried bis keys about with
him, 6ef6r laying them aside. His wife at
his summons came with candle into the
room, and he unlocked the chest in he- pres
sence and brous ht out his money to the table,
where he purposed counting 1t and taking
from it the sum necessary for his travelling
expenses and for the purchases he intended
making at the Leipsc fair
The box oon.aihed largo purse OF leather
wrapped round with cord and sealed with
his own signet. The coin it contained con-
sisted of French pistoles with the exception
Of sir Dutch ducats.
Lampert found the lock untampered with
and the leather purse as he had left it, bound
with the string and with his seal unbroken
lip word, all was in the coLditon in which
he had'left 1t, except the contents of the
purse. As he counted the money in the pre-
sence Of his wife, twelve pistoles and one of
the six ducats were missing. This discov
cry filled him and his wife with dismay They
counted the money again, they searched
every corner of the box, turned the bag in
side out, but conld not discover the smallest
trace OF the missing coin. Lampert had
written ticket of the amount, when he had
inclosed it iu the bag. before he sealed it up.
How had the money been abstracted without
breaking the seals and nd.getting the keys from
the merchant
The room occupied by Lsnpert and his
wife was so..situated that no stranger could
have ent ,red unobserved during the day, and
IL was quite certain that no robbers had
broken in during the night.
When the couple had recovered from their
first astonishment they considered who could
have done the deed, and they could think of
no one at all likely to be guilty Of the theft,
except their housemaid, Marie Keller, a
young woman of 23.
The merchant at once summoned her to
the rom and charged her with having stolen
the money. He promised her if she wunld
confess and make restitut on that he would
forgive hor, aud though he would dismiss her
from his sci vice he would hush the matter
up. The girl trembled and nearly tainted,
but protested Ter innocence, and So resolute-
ly refused to allow her guilt that Lampert
aud his wife insisted ON examining her bed
room. They made ber lead the way with a
candle and stand in the middle OF the room
while hcr master and mistress explored every
corner, her boxes, her bed, her drawers-in
word, every hiding place where she could
stow d away the.missing coins.
Tue search had lasted some time without
producing any result, when Frau Lampeit
feeling iii the p lcket of an old ragged dress
that ay upon the floor drew forth one OF
the Dutch ducats. When this was discover
cd Marie Keller burst into tears, aud with
vehcmence reasserted her innocence. She
fell IN her knees before her master and mis-
tress, vowed that she had not taken any coin
from their Golfer, and declared her inability
to account for the ducat having been found
in her pocket in any other way than by sup
posing some melevolent person had put it
there to inculpato her, when she was as guilt
less aH a newborn child. Her protests were
coldly listened to and disregarded The evil
dencl of the ducat in her pocket seemed CON
elusive to Lampert that she sud,no stranger
had robbed him.
According to Prussan law at the time,
those guilty of theft were. hanged If the value
OF tb articles stolen amounted to Ave thalers
or fifteen shllings-and the thief was more
than Is years old.
La npert seems to, have been hard man.
He ss very angry at the loss of his money,
and specially iucensed at Marie's obstrnacy
in denying having taken it. He told his wife
that he would communicate with the police,
have the girl arres' ed. and that he would let
her suler the consequences. Frau I.ampert
urged him to be mercful. Let him pardon
this FIRST error in the poor girls conduct, dis
miss her and try to forget his loss. But
Lampert would not be. pached. Then she
urged that the law was cruelty severe, and
that the sum of money lost was not one so
great but that Lampert would scarcely feel
", q d that he would be certain, later. to re-
gret ais barshness in giving over to death
girl who had yielded to a first temptation,
and had taken comparatively insign' 'flcsnt
sunl Of money.
He knew that it was possible to closely
repi"duce signet with bread, but this re-
luirts considerable time. The bread must
be we'll worked, the impression taken while
the hresd is soft; then it must he allowed
some days In which to harden. This involv-
ed a double opening of his chest, once to
take the cast of the seal and again to steal
the money and reseal the bag. But-how
had Marie got hold of his keys? That was
impossible II, however, she could take al
so tHst of the lock. So, he reasoned, the
robbery had hseh committcd; but this means
adopted showed that the girl was adroit in
the art, and that in all probability she be-
Iona ed to a gang of thieves. This suspicion
va. solroborated by the fact that none OF